"When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose"
When I started officially training on 28 August 2013, and when I say officially I mean - walking, the goal when I signed up for the 21K was to complete the half marathon. My failure to run the half marathon two years back, hurt, to say the least. I don't think I'll ever forget the 46kgs, the bleeding, the emotional fatigue, the mental breakdown and the unforgivable emptiness - for all the wrong reasons, yet for all the right ones, at least I thought at that time.
Things change. And so did I.
Two years later, one thing was very clear - there ain't gonna be no bullshit from any quarter, be it marriage, boyfriends, emotional atyachar of my besties or even Church. The run will come first.
Health: With my double G-trips, Goa and Gurgaon out of the way, the focus was first on getting my back sorted. Physiotherapy helped but the biggest takeaways from 2013 has to be the fact that I changed my walk. No more hop scotch, it was your average Jane freestyle. I want to place on record my sincere thanks to
Dr. Divya for making me realise that most of my health issues stemmed from something I was habituated by and didn't want to break. I think the fact that I took the idea of changing my walk to the exercises so seriously, that they helped condition my mind as well. It feels divine to say that my back doesn't ache anymore :D
The beginning: While this was going on, my walk/ jog began. It wasn't a great start, in fact it was fucking boring at times. Anyway, I would walk home from the station which is about a 3km walk but it depends on the pace of the stride which was average. So I started focussing on that first. Then in my second week I did my first km. Oh crap, I died. I didn't do it right - I was all over the place and I ran instead of acclimatizing my body to that tempo.
I went back to the drawing board and did loads of reading. Learnt more exercises. For about two months, I spent easily about an hour exercising at home. My back strengthened, legs became a little stronger, mind got a little clearer, yet sleep eluded me.
Wardrobe: Attire was next. Being top heavy is a fucking curse in India. Find a decent sports bra is even worse. I actually hammered two guys on a bike while on a run. Passing comments is one thing... stopping thrice on a bike to pass comments - they messed with the wrong girl.
Anyway got the right gear and initially things were fine, until the longer runs began and they started cutting into my skin. At the beginning I didn't realise that I was bruised, but one day after my first 10km run on 1 November 2013, I found that my skin had peeled off and I was bleeding. Dayumn. Not funny and I still have that scar but it's a brilliant battle scar so no complaints... The other scar is even worse, but Vaseline became my saviour for the next two months. I invested in dry fit clothes from Nike which helped extremely for someone like me who is finicky about the cold. PwC cap all the way baby and my pride and joy - my Adidas shoes. Love. Love. Love!
Diet: I ate everything under the sun, but I did loads of things in moderation. My carb intake had quadrupled even though I was unhappy about my paunch which wasn't ready to disappear. Bananas, bagels, milk, oranges, nuts, fruit plates, mashed potatoes (I wuvvvv) and rice (I hattteeee). Funnily enough, after four and a half months of training, I actually gained a kg. Boo yeah!
The challenge: The biggest challenge was staying true to my goal of being focussed. I had a four month calendar chart drawn out which I got online and I customised it often based on how I was feeling. I'm glad I didn't alter it way too much but I could have done better in trying to stick to it rather than being lazy. More determined focus would have helped improve my run tremendously, I'm sure. I know I could have pushed harder but - next year... wait and watch!
I must tell you - I've had days where for an entire week I've set the alarm for 5am, convinced myself that I need rest and rolled over and drooled. Then there were a couple of days where I'd get up, brush my teeth, wear my clothes and shoes, and go back to sleep. Yeah, those were the days, my friend...
It wasn't just the weather, to be honest. Excuses came aplenty. Wanting to have a social life of the smallest kind had to be thought out and I would get nasty with people telling them I had a run and they ended up making fun. But most often, I didn't waiver. Then the usual - periods, work, fatigue and feelings came in the way, making things harder. I didn't overcome them, I just accepted them and took them along with my run. If you can't beat 'em, ride 'em out :D
Two weeks to go: I panicked sooooo bad that I cried at work :P Yeah, I do that at times. My boss calls me drama queen. But I really hit panic mode and the OMG - what if my knees collapse, what if I get sick, what if my back gives way, what if this and what if that... bhendi! While sitting on the pot like the great 'thinker', I forced myself to calm down because enough of this psyched out bickeroo - you're 28 for crying out loud! Plus that day, everyone seemed to be acting dumb at work and I had some major yelling matches on a few calls that I had to call it quits and go home. Ufffff.... Seriously, this was the storm before the calm :D
The final bell: On 31 December 2013, while most people were getting ready to usher in a hopefully better year, I did my final longest run - 17.5kms. That's it. I didn't want to push myself anymore just two weeks before the race. My legs took a while to recover from that and yet, I ended up the following week doing a 12km on a Thursday and a 3km on a Friday. I was burnt out and desperately needed to rest my legs. Next week and a half I dropped the ball completely and other than going to the gym to work on my knees, a nice foot and back massage, and a walk from the station, that's it. The Saturday before the race, I did a 3km slow jog and headed home - head held high. I had done my best, my very best. I had given my all and expected nothing in return. The goal was no longer to finish the race, it was to finish it in a modest 2.30 with a personal goal of 2.15 if I could push myself some more.
D-Day: When I woke up on Sunday, the first thing I did was bury my face in my pillow and smile like the Cheshire Cat.
WOOOHHOOOOO - was all I wanted to scream!!! I'd been dreaming of this day for over six months and it was FINALLY here!!!!
Woke up, made breakfast, stretched as much as I could and quietened my mind to concentrate. Walking out of the door, it just felt like - WOW - you know, like there was no turning back. Once at Bandra Reclamation, the hordes of people blew my mind, the energy swept me in, as waves upon waves of cheers and war cry calls drove all of us crazyyyyy!!! the music pumped us all up even more.
At that point, I made the first decision to change my strategy - my playlist which i had been adding and deleting and modifying for months was out. I was going to stick to one tune. The Nike ad. It got me focussed on my longest practice runs. I decided to go with that on loop. Good decision.
The big blunder I made was not realising that the start line had been crossed, and that we were live. I actually went to use the portable loo and walking quite a bit cause there were many who were still lolling around until I saw a banner which read 19kms to go and i went - FTW???? Shit. I started my Caledos App, got the voice on and began.
What a feeling man. What an amazing 2.36 with people running, walking, jogging as one on the Worli Sea Link. It got annoying at times when people jogged and then walked a bit, blocking the way, but I had been though this near Aarey so I didn't let it bother me too much. I just adjusted my cap lower, put my head down and trod on. The best part - my calves didn't hurt - not even once. I had stretched and worked them out well and I was sooo happy that because of taking that week and a half rest, it all helped in getting my legs to perform better than I expected on my big day.
Never for a minute did I feel like quitting; because there was always someone or the other, from crowds on the footpath to the participants themselves who cheered and motivated you to stay on top of your game. I remembered the voice of the Coach -
"You promised me your very best" and I kept telling him - "I'm gonna give you my very best, my very, very, very, best; just don't give up on me!" All that psychological talk helped. I can't express how much it did.
Kids with placards telling you to keep on moving, the Japanese Embassy people distributing bananas, women screaming that we're almost there, men encouraging women to push harder, the cops being so supportive to those who needed a hand, the water bottles, the mints, sweets, oranges peeled with love, -
THANK YOU! That experience alone humbled me.
The highlight of my run, and I hope there comes a time when technology can capture my memory and make it into a visual reality, was when the Kenyan men and women raced past me on the other side of Peddar Road. We knew something was happening as a couple of bikes rode past, then a BMW and then the blur! What a sight man - JESUS! I kid you not, I had goosebumps and I actually wanted to stop and roll my tongue-out and just gape at them move like a pack of wolves. The women weren't far behind, coming as close as ever. I've got that memory etched in me forever.
I had told SSR that my plan was to jog all the way. I trained well - up and down the Westin slope, the Aarey-NZ slope. Peddar Road was an excellent point to prove cause I didn't stop once. Pat on the back!!!
As soon as I passed Wilsons, I knew I had to get pushing a little. Almost there, almost there. At Marine Drive I actually did the Wolverine claw move (chuckle) and the face, although there was no fire in me to push more... hehehe.
20kms: Outside Churchgate station, was the first and thankfully only fall. I had a terrible stomach catch on the right and I actually stopped altogether. I remembered reading
no matter what, keep going. So I started walking and all those people who I had overtaken slowly got closer and I started to get worked up. I'll be damned if anyone is taking my spot - I got right back in and gave it all I had. The 300 metres banner pushed me even more. For the first time I grabbed a sponge and wet my face. Watching a guy collapse in front of you with the cops catching him does that to you, I guess.
Almost there baby girl... almost there...
21KMS!!!
Thumbs up! Peace sign! I DID IT. I DID IT. I DID IT!!!
A= A
B= Beastly
C= Chelsea
D= Determined
E= Energetic
F= Focussed
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. I promised you my very best. You had my very, very, very, best.
Official time taken to complete: 2 hours and 36 minutes.
Amen.
